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You know you are getting old when:

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,680
Location
Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
I'm impressed, there was I thinking that only Londoners had the spiel to turn English into a foreign language.

GHT.... it goes back to when we first
started driving our "motor-cars"
on the wrong side of the road, probably
because we use gasoline instead of petrol.

Personally, I blame Mr. Henry Ford when
he placed the steering wheel on the
left side.
So bloody uncivilized, eh wot? :mad:
 
Last edited:

GHT

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,793
Location
New Forest
GHT.... it goes back to when we first
started driving our "motor-cars"
on the wrong side of the road, probably
because we use gasoline instead of petrol.

Personally, I blame Mr. Henry Ford when
he placed the steering wheel on the
left side.
So bloody uncivilized, eh wot? :mad:

In the past, almost everybody travelled on the left side of the road because that was the most sensible option for feudal, violent societies. Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an opponent and their scabbard further from him. Moreover, it reduced the chance of the scabbard (worn on the left) hitting other people.
Furthermore, a right-handed person finds it easier to mount a horse from the left side of the horse, and it would be very difficult to do otherwise if wearing a sword (which would be worn on the left). It is safer to mount and dismount towards the side of the road, rather than in the middle of traffic, so if one mounts on the left, then the horse should be ridden on the left side of the road.
In the late 1700s, however, teamsters in France and the United States began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. These wagons had no driver’s seat; instead the driver sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to steer the team. Since he was sitting on the left, he naturally wanted everybody to pass on the left so he could look down and make sure he kept clear of the oncoming wagon’s wheels. Therefore he kept to the right side of the road.
 

Stearmen

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,202
Tomayto, Tomahto. People can call it Before Coffee and After Dinner for all I care. Changing what people call it doesn't change the fact that the critical turning point between the two is still a somewhat arbitrary date that happens to coincide with the guesstimated birth date of a religious figure. Just to be clear, I'm not arguing the point one way or the other; I'm simply fascinated by the method we have chosen to measure that human notion that we call "time".

So, you're basing your "turn of the century" beliefs on the behavior of a bunch of alcoholics and junkies? ;)
You use your methodology, and I will use mine! :)
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
I have been to London and I can assure you that English is no longer spoken there. At least I couldn't understand the natives. As it happened, the desk clerk at the hotel where we stayed, a block from the South Kensington Underground Station, was from the Ukraine. Excellent English, better than mine, which isn't saying much.

I always enjoy the way people have a local expression not used much anywhere else. Once example is from Charm City (Baltimore). There is a sign next to the highway as you approach the city from the south, coming from Washington. It says "Welcome to Baltimore." On one trip into the city, someone had put a big piece of cardboard under the sigh with the word "Hon" on it. I don't remember why we went but I remember that.
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
I should also mention that the biggest adventure I ever had overseas was renting (hiring!) a vehicle with a six-speed manual transmission (gearbox) with right-hand drive in the U.K. The first couple hundred yards (meters) were tricky. After that I managed okay. Changing gears wasn't that hard, although steering with just the right hand seemed strangely difficult. But I never got used to that many gears. After all, we weren't towing a trailer (caravan).

On another trip to Germany we had another six-speed manual transmission, an Opel, I think it was, but at least it was left-hand drive. My only regret is passing up an opportunity to rent a Skoda.
 

scottyrocks

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,178
Location
Isle of Langerhan, NY
I always enjoy the way people have a local expression not used much anywhere else. Once example is from Charm City (Baltimore). There is a sign next to the highway as you approach the city from the south, coming from Washington. It says "Welcome to Baltimore." On one trip into the city, someone had put a big piece of cardboard under the sigh with the word "Hon" on it. I don't remember why we went but I remember that.

On the eastbound Belt Pkwy, leaving Brooklyn, is a sign that says, 'Leaving Brooklyn - Fuhgeddaboudit.'
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
There's a line in the movie "Arsenic and Old Lace" (a subtitle, near the beginning) that says, "Meanwhile, across the river in the United States proper." I think it was referring to Brooklyn where the Brewster's live.
 

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